Home Cosm

Every character comes from Aysle, Core Earth, Cyberpapacy, Living Land, Nile Empire, Orrorsh, Pan-Pacifica, or Tharkold.

Write this down in the space that says “Home Cosm.“ Then write down the corresponding Magical, Social, Spiritual, and Tech Axioms from your character’s home cosm, found in each cosm’s descriptions.

Possibilities

Possibilities are tokens or chips used to track how much Possibility Energy a Storm Knight contains at any one time. Storm Knights reset to three Possibilities at the start of each act. Additional Possibilities are awarded by the Game Master for playing in character, accomplishing campaign goals, being a hero, or simply entertaining the group.

Attributes

Attributes are the characteristics common to every being. In Torg Eternity, there are five attributes:

• Charisma is how likable, attractive, or influential the individual is to others.
• Dexterity measures quickness, manual dexterity, agility, and reflexes.
• Mind is an individual’s intelligence, perception, knowledge, and cunning.
• Spirit is a character’s resolve, self-confidence, and resistance to fear.
• Strength reflects brawn, endurance, and physical fitness.

In extreme cases a character may need to roll a test against Strength to lift a heavy object for a few seconds. Otherwise, a character can lift up to 8× Strength kilograms, or 12× Strength for a short period. What a character can carry around is up to the GM, her gear, and the situation.

Relative Human Attribute Values

Starting Attributes
Starting characters have 40 attribute points to assign to Charisma, Dexterity, Mind, Spirit, and Strength. The minimum value for any attribute is 5, and the maximum for humans is 13. Maximum values for other races are listed in their description.

Movement

Heroes can walk up to their Dexterity per round in meters. They can also run at 3× their effective Dexterity. That means if a character is wearing heavy armor that limits her Dexterity, she’s going to run slower. If you need to know details about climbing, leaping, or swimming.

Skills

Skills are learned abilities that build off a character’s raw attributes. Skill “adds“ are added to the base attribute to get the value recorded on your character sheet.

Adds of +1 or +2 indicate some experience or training; +3 to +4 represent advanced training. Only true experts have +5 in a skill, which is the maximum one can attain by advancement without the Mastery Perk.

Beginning characters have 16 skill points, but at least one of those must be spent on an add for the reality skill. No skill may have more than three points assigned to it during character creation.

Perks

Every player character starts with two “Perks,“ special abilities that let them start the game with cyberware, cast spells, use Nile Empire pulp powers, or simply be tougher or faster than most. Perks are often restricted by a character’s home cosm or might have other prerequisites.

Defenses

Fill in the following Defenses on your character sheet—these are the totals the enemy must get to harm your hero in combat.

• Dodge: Your character’s dodge skill plus any bonuses from Perks or equipment. Dodge is the total foes must equal to hit the character at range.
• Melee: Your melee weapons plus any bonuses from Perks or gear. Foes must get a total equal to this or higher when the hero is armed.
• Unarmed: Your unarmed combat skill, plus any bonuses. This is what enemies use to hit your character when she’s unarmed.
• Toughness: Characters resist damage with Toughness, which is equal to their Strength plus armor.

Shock and Wounds

Characters suffer Shock and Wounds when injured, as explained under Combat. For now, record these values in the space provided on your character sheet:

• Shock: Your hero’s Spirit plus any bonuses from Perks or other sources is the amount of Shock he can take before being KO’ed. If accumulated Shock exceeds this number, he’s KO’ed. Ignore any additional Shock beyond this number.
• Wounds: This is the number of Wounds your character can take. Wounds in excess of this value means he’s KO’ed and must test for Defeat. Ignore any additional Wounds beyond this number.

As a rule, goons can only take a single Wound before they’re defeated. Storm Knights are KO’ed and test for Defeat when they take Wound beyond the third, unless they’ve increased their Wounds through Perks.